PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Political Theory — meaning and approaches

Comment on resurgence of political theory. (150 words)

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes
R1 death declared — premature — what fell was positivist science, not theory. R2 behaviouralism sidelined values → normative theory revives.
Body flow
Germino: theory “rising from the ashes” — Berlin: survives while rational curiosity lives → Rawls’s A Theory of Justice = the decisive moment – field widens: feminism, multiculturalism, environment, post-colonial.
Counter-view
Not a rejection of empirical science — science supplies the means, philosophy decides the ends.
Conclusion routes
R1 synthesis of facts and values. R2 a rebirth, not a

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2019, Political Theory — meaning and approaches